Time to finish this series of Favorite Monsters for Newcomers with the Splinter which is, in my opinion, the strongest set of cards that you start with. This is why I've saved it for last, as many people simply use Haunted Spirit, Undead Priest, and Twisted Jester as a core to absolutely great effect in Low Mana.
About the Splinter
Death is, like Fire, one of the best Low Mana starting builds. They thrive in Low Mana, and they ignore high mana front line tanks with many of their monsters, which is why they're so powerful in Bronze/Silver, where people tend to 'put all their mana' into the tank, not expecting anything to just ignore it. The standard sets' biggest weakness is High Mana battles, as well as battles such as Poison and Earthquake, where they lack the healing power and health power to really survive in the format.
#1 Grim Reaper
A great, 3 Ranged, Anti Heal heavy hitter for Mid Mana and High Mana battles. He's a part of one of my core teams, which has not lost much, if any battles where I could play the full set-up. He's powerful, he shuts down healing, and he's not a very expensive card for 3 Ranged damage. This card amps up your raw power, helping you take down powerful, hard hitting tanks who may be a threat if your team simply tries to kill the backline.
Costs: Normal: $0.74, Gold Foil: $23
Renting: Normal: 0.1 DEC / day, Gold Foil: 7 DEC / day
#2 Undead Rex
Okay, so, Haunted Spirit is really the only tank you need. But if you're ever looking for a more direct, hard hitting monstrosity. This is your card. 5 Freaking Melee. This thing will shred anything it hits. It's a hyper offensive card, and for Death, hyper offensive is situational, but when situations favor this monster (Attack from any position, opportunity, etc) he will tear apart other teams. He's also a cheap gold card! This plays a heavy factor in his ranking (If his Gold card price rises he would move down this list)
Costs: Normal:$0.37, Gold Foil: $8
Renting: Normal: 0.1 DEC / day, Gold Foil: 1.16 DEC / day
#3 Skeletal Warrior
Death Splinter THRIVES off of its backline attackers. However, sometimes you have such low mana, that you can't really afford Haunted Spirit. Here you go. Usually, with Low Mana in all other splinters, you want a mid mana tank and you want low mana attackers. With Death, Twisted Jester and Skeleton are so useful that the tank is the better option. Pairing this guy with Chicken allows your back line attackers to shred your opponents.
Costs: Normal: $1.50, Gold Foil: $57
Renting: Normal: 0.1 DEC / day, Gold Foil: 5.5 DEC / day
#4 The Gorlodon
A spooky, high mana off-tank with 3 Melee, 12 Health and Reach this is a great choice for some additional defenses to protect your backline. The only thing better would be a nice Taunt ability, but we all know how expensive taunt cards are in Death and Water, where back attackers are crucial. Luckily this guy is relatively cheap.
Costs: Normal: $5.59, Gold Foil: $160
Renting: Normal: 1.95 DEC / day, Gold Foil: 35 DEC / day
#5 Shadowy Presence
THIS is your other answer for Low Mana battles, almost all battles actually. An extra 4 Health for 1 Mana, you can throw him in the back of your team against Death and Fire to protect your backline, throw him in the front to protect against Water and Death, and either one will help you against Earth and Light! That's right, he's just all around useful. If this were a Neutral card he'd likely be as expensive, or more expensive than Chicken. This IS your Death answer to Chicken being so expensive now. He's only low on this list because he doesn't round out Death's weaknesses. What HE does is strengthen Death's already stellar strengths. Just uh... don't try to get the gold foil. lol
Costs: Normal: $4, Gold Foil: $120
Renting: Normal: 0.44 DEC / day, Gold Foil: 70 DEC / day
Summoners
The default summoners in this Splinter are so useful, just like Fire. Luckily, Death's other Rare summoner is actually kind of useful compared to Fire's Qid Yuff. While situational, Owster Rotwell is a very powerful card when played right. In a magic heavy format, or against Water splinter, he is an almost complete hard counter, giving every card magic reflect. This is also useful in fighting Earth splinter, as your cards will counter, and quickly kill Wood Nymph! He's also rather cheap for a Summoner!
He's not an ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE card, but he's a very useful anti-magic choice for Death, giving you a wider range of better matchups. (Low Mana Water is an auto-win, and many Mid-Mana too!)
Sign Up for Splinterlands now!
Never played? Interested in getting in on the action? Want to find out what all the fuss is about for these battles, or maybe you've seen a bunch about SPS? You can play the game 100% for free initially, without earning currency. If you like it, you pay $10 to get in on the action by buying a Spellbook! You'll make that 10 dollars back in less than a month at current prices. If you sign up, feel free to message or comment and I might hook you up with some free starting cards, or delegate a card to you for a week!
Join me on Splinterlands, If you use my link, I'll send you 100 DEC when you sign up and get a spellbook, (as long as you show up as referred) which should help you get started via renting! Also, feel free to message me, I can answer any questions, give tips, etc. I might even give you a card or delegate some to you for your first season! I also will be doing a monthly giveaway for my referrals for as long as I play! Last month, I gave my first referral a 1 month delegation of 3 Legendaries and Mylor, plus some other stuff for the month! This month I think I will be delegating a gold Serpentine Spy to somebody for the month of September and who knows what else!
